


Passing the Torch

by TakingOverMidnight3482



Series: Think Outside the Love Square [12]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, The Battle of the Miraculous spoilers, Wayzz Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 12:43:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21428416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakingOverMidnight3482/pseuds/TakingOverMidnight3482
Summary: “Nino Lahiffe. This is the Miraculous of the Turtle. It grants the wearer the power of protection. With it, I am asking you to help me and Chat Noir protect Paris from Hawkmoth, Mayura, and any other evil that might come across it.”Nino looked up at her, certain she was joking. “You’re…you’re giving this to me? To keep?”“I am.”~~Post Season 3 finale, spoilers ahead!
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Series: Think Outside the Love Square [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1150916
Comments: 9
Kudos: 220





	Passing the Torch

**Author's Note:**

> Whoop, guess who finally got to unblock all her Miraculous Ladybug tags on tumblr!! This gal! For real, if you don't want spoilers for the end of Season 3, don't read further until you're caught up.

“What do you want, Wayzz?”

She asked it as gently as she could, but it still came out sounding like annoyance. Marinette cringed at the downtrodden look on the turtle’s face and ran a gentle finger over his head. “I know you miss him,” she amended. “And I don’t want to have to coop you up after you’ve been out for so long.”

“It’s not that,” Wayzz assured the girl. He glanced at Tikki, who was watching her fellow kwami with a tint of sadness in her eyes. “It’s…after being connected to him for so long, I just feel…hollow, I suppose. You are lovely,” he promised her. “But you are not my chosen.”

Marinette breathed out. “Oh. Oh, you…you mean Nino.”

Wayzz nodded, crossing his legs in the air. “Yes. When Mas…when Fu was around, my connection with him was not nearly as strong because I was still attached to Fu. Now that he is no longer the holder of the Miracle Box, I can feel the separation. Once you return my miraculous to the box, it will subside.”

“Wayzz’s connection to his holder is stronger than anyone except for Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Tikki piped up. “Since he’s one of the oldest, and he’s been with every Guardian since the beginning of the Guardian Order, he’s wiser than all of us.”

Wayzz managed a meek smile. “She is being generous.”

“I’m being truthful, you nut,” Tikki said, poking him. “Even though Nino hasn’t had him for long, and even though Master Fu was connected to him at the same time, his connection with Nino is almost as strong as mine with you, or Plagg’s with Chat.”

“Can…can Nino feel the separation?” Marinette asked.

Wayzz tilted his head. “Probably in some way, yes. Nothing harmful, just a loss in his gut. But once you put the miraculous back in the box, it will subside.”

Marinette looked at Tikki. “Do I need to have Wayzz with me if I’m the guardian?”

Tikki shook her head. “No. It’s just been tradition, but I can answer your questions nearly as well, and we can always call him out if we need help.”

“You’re not going back in the box.”

Wayzz looked up at her in surprise. “Pardon?”

Marinette stood, looking down at the turtle bracelet dangling from her fingers. “I can’t put you back in the box after being free for so long. That would be like…like locking an animal in a cage. I’m giving you to Nino. Permanently.”

“Hawkmoth knows his identity!” Wayzz protested.

Marinette nodded. “I know. But he won’t expect me to give the Miraculous back to them, and if anyone should have a Miraculous on them right now, it should be the protector. Plus, he’s great to hang out with. You wouldn’t be lonely.”

“Marinette-”

Marinette lifted her hands and cupped the turtle in them. “Wayzz. I know you don’t want to go back in the box. And I’d rather you be happy and out here with someone who cares about you then stuck in the box alone and able to feel this…this hollowness in your stomach.”

“But-”

“Do you want to go back in the box?”

Wayzz hesitated. “Well…no.”

“Exactly.”

“But it’s dangerous!”

She kissed his head and let him go. “It’s dangerous anyway. Master Fu didn’t think it was safe to have more than Tikki and Plagg out at the same time. Now…now I think it’s too dangerous not to have someone else to call on. And I need it to be someone I can trust. It definitely can’t be Chloe, and it can’t be the others, and…as much as I want to give Alya hers, I don’t trust that she won’t abuse it. Nino won’t. You know that.”

“Alya will notice,” Wayzz protested. “She knows what the Miraculous will look like. It may be enough to upset her. Akumatize her even.”

“The Miraculous’ have changed shape for me,” Marinette pointed out. “Can’t you change yours for Nino?”

Wayzz rubbed his paws together. “I…I suppose.”

Tikki wrapped him in a tight squeeze. “Wayzz. I don’t want you to be sad. And I know I can’t stop that, but being alone right now when you can feel your chosen won’t help, even if the other kwamis are there. Marinette is right.”

Wayzz took a deep breath. If it shook a little more than usual, no one said anything. “All right.”

Marinette smiled and stood. “Tikki, spots on.”

~~

“Nino?”

Nino just about fell out of the bench he was sitting on, looking up from his lyric book to find Ladybug standing over him, looking solemn. He yelped and stood, dropping his pencil on the pavement and watching it roll into the Seine. “Dude! Ladydude! Ladybug! Shit. Uh. Sorry. What…is this about today? The akuma? Because we were under Chloe’s influence, there’s no way we would have revealed-”

Ladybug set a gentle hand on his shoulder, squeezed. “I know. But it’s not a total loss. It wasn’t televised, so even though your identities were blown to Hawkmoth and Mayura, they’re still a secret from all of Paris.”

Nino scowled. “Not if Chloe has anything to do with it.”

Ladybug frowned; it was clear she hadn’t thought of that. “Odds are the Miraculous Ladybug cure wiped her memory. If it didn’t…we’ll have to just deal with that if it happens. I hope she understands at least what spilling _her_ secret did.”

Nino snorted. “Yeah, it made her hate you.”

He winced immediately and backpedaled. “Sorry, sorry, Ladybug, I didn’t mean to-”

Ladybug held up her hand. “It’s okay. I understand. And you’re right. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m glad you’re alone, there’s something important I need to tell you.”

She gestured to the bench and Nino sat down on the edge, bouncing his knee lightly and watching her as she sat next to him. Her hands folded in her lap. “That man on the roof today,” Ladybug said, staring at the ground. Her fingers tightened. “The one Hawkmoth was attacking.”

“He was using Wayzz,” Nino said. He’d noticed that, in the haze. Remembered it afterwards. Not much else – he knew Alya was there with him, and a few others…maybe Max? But nothing else. “Was he-?”

“The original holder of the turtle miraculous, yes,” Ladybug confirmed. “Hawkmoth tried to capture him, but he used it one last time so that he could protect the rest of the Miraculous and our identities.”

Nino sucked in a breath. “He knows who you are?”

Ladybug looked away. Her lips tightened. “He knew.”

Something in Nino’s stomach sank. “Oh my god is he dead?”

“No, no, no.”

He breathed, shutting his eyes. For a moment, he’d been ready to kill Hawkmoth for the old dude. “Thank god.”

Ladybug hummed and looked down again. “Yeah. He’s alive, but…he was the guardian. He was in charge of the miraculous’, and in the last few moments when Hawkmoth was fighting him, he…he gave that up. Passed the box and the ownership to me. So I’m…the new guardian now.”

Nino couldn’t help but grin. He punched Ladybug’s shoulder before he could think better of it, and then froze. When she didn’t hit back, he swallowed his initial fear. “That’s awesome, dude! I mean…it sucks that he had to give it up? But it’s still cool.”

“He lost all his memories of the miraculous, too,” Ladybug said softly, and suddenly it didn’t seem so cool.

Nino blinked and then frowned. “Does that mean someday you’ll-?”

She held up a hand and he shut his mouth quickly. Fiddled with the notebook in his hands. “I don’t…I can’t think about it right now. But that’s not why I am here. It’s just a…a preface. To this.”

She reached out, grabbed his hand. Slipped a box into it, a familiar black and red piece of wood that he gripped onto with urgency. “Do you need me?”

Ladybug looked up at him, and something in her eyes haunted him. She looked so human in that second that it threw Nino – he forgot at times that she was most likely his age. “Wayzz needs you.”

A lump settled low in his chest. “Wayzz?”

“He lost his master,” Ladybug said quietly. “They’ve been together for over a hundred years. He might not admit it, but he’s hurting. You can feel it, right? The empty feeling, in the pit of your stomach?”

Nino swallowed, looked down at the box. He traced a finger over it fondly. “Well…I mean I did, but I thought I was just hungry. You mean it…it’s what, I’m feeling what little dude is feeling?”

“In a way,” Ladybug agreed. “His connection to his holder is almost as intense as mine and Chat Noir’s are to our kwamis. Aside from ours, he is the oldest kwami. Being away from his holder can be very uncomfortable, for both of you. That’s one of the reasons I’m doing this.”

“Doing…doing what?”

Her smile was so gentle. Nino had seen it before. He couldn’t place it. His brain wouldn’t let him. But he knew her, knew this smile. “Nino Lahiffe. This is the Miraculous of the Turtle. It grants the wearer the power of protection. With it, I am asking you to help me and Chat Noir protect Paris from Hawkmoth, Mayura, and any other evil that might come across it.”

His chest ached and he pulled the box towards him. Nino looked up at her, certain she was joking. “You’re…you’re giving this to me? To keep?”

“I am.”

“I thought it was too dangerous?”

Ladybug bit her lip, looked towards the city. The water lapped against the edges of the canal. “It was. Now, with Hawkmoth showing up more and more, taking bigger risks…it’s too dangerous not to give to you.”

“But he knows who I am,” Nino protested.

“Yes. Which is why he won’t expect this. But you have to be careful. No one can know you have this Miraculous. Not even Alya,” Ladybug said seriously.

Something in his gut twisted. “But…”

“I know, she’s your girlfriend, but-”

“I-It’s not that,” Nino spluttered. He paused, rethought his words. “I mean…it is. But she…she’s the only one who gets it,” he whispered. He lowered his hands, holding the box in his lap. He still hadn’t opened it. “She’s the only one who gets the stupid double life and having to feel so useless on the sidelines when we can’t help and she’s been kicking my ass into shape and I…I can’t do this without her.”

There was a long pause, where he didn’t look up. Couldn’t meet her eyes. He started to push the box back into her hands.

Red light spilled over them and cool hands closed on his, pushing the box back. “Then do it with me, Nino.”

It didn’t surprise him, somehow. To find Marinette there.

It made his chest crack in relief, his breath come out in a soft gasp, unexpected tears spring to his eyes. “Isn’t this super against the rules?” he asked, and his voice crackled embarrassingly.

The Kwami next to her frowned. “Very,” she said, but the twinkle in her eyes said she wasn’t totally mad.

Marinette smiled. Her eyes were tinged red, and Nino realized what a hard afternoon she must have had. “I’m making my own rules this time. I still…we still can’t tell Chat Noir. That’s too risky, especially if one of us gets captured. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be here for you.”

“What if I get captured?” Nino asked, looking down at the box.

“It’s why I’m giving you Wayzz,” Marinette said. She pushed his hands back to him. “He’s the only one that can hold out for so long against Hawkmoth’s power. The only one who could protect you. And it won’t be the bracelet anymore. It’d be too obvious.”

He opened it, finally. Squinted at the brilliant light. Wayzz gave him a weak smile when it died down, did a double take at the sight of Marinette in plain clothes. Didn’t scold her. Nino reached up and scratched him on the head. “Hey, buddy. Heard about your day. Wanna go home and help me mix this track?”

Wayzz’s smile grew a little more real. “I’d like that, Young Master.”

“No way, ‘lil dude. Nino.”

A little more. “Nino. I would like that very much. I hope this form for the Miraculous is suitable.”

Nino finally looked back down at the box and let out a laugh. “It’s still a bracelet?”

“Wayzz!” Marinette whined.

Nino shook his head and pulled it out with a grin. Instead of the old fashioned one with a turtle on it, it was one that matched the rest on his wrist, rubber, sporty, the smallest turtle etched on it on only one side. He could flip it over, no one would ever spot it amongst the others. “It’s perfect.”

He slipped it on and immediately the hollow, hungry feeling in his gut vanished. He blinked, looking over at Wayzz, who looked a little less weary. “Feel better?”

“I do. Thank you, Nino.”

Wayzz sank down onto Nino’s hat brim and looked at Marinette. “If you need help with anything, please inform me.”

“Yeah, just call me, dude,” Nino said. He hesitated, suddenly realizing exactly what Marinette was dealing with. “Dude. Oh my god, literally call me whenever you need, okay? Like a snack, or homework, or an excuse, or just to talk, geez.”

Marinette smiled, but it was wobbily. Like it wasn’t the first time she’d thought about all that was on her shoulders. Nino did the only natural thing: he leaned in and hugged her.

“Thank you,” he mumbled into her shoulder.

Her hands lifted and tightened in his shirt. Her frame shook just a little, but Nino pretended to ignore it. “What for?” she asked, her voice tight.

“Trusting me.”

“I always have.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is an ending I very much wanted after what happened with Fu, and also after seeing Marinette break down in front of Luka, I really wanted to give her someone to lean on. So I killed two birds with one stone, and got in my daily word count for NaNo (which I don't use for novel writing so much as forcing me to write SOMETHING). 
> 
> Obviously a lot of things in here are speculation or headcanons (Chloe not remembering who the identities are, the stuff about Wayzz and the miraculous, etc). They're just here for plot filler lol.


End file.
